Enigma
by Rubber Duck Commander
Summary: [AU] Kagome, a psychiatry student, is assigned to observe the actions of a psychiatric patient, InuYasha. However, things start to complicate when InuYasha decides to mess with her mind...


_**Enigma**_

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**I: Hope dangles on a string**

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The sound of a woman's shoe clicked on the linoleum floors of the mental ward of the Sengoku Memorial Hospital as bright sunshine shone through the barred windows. The source of the sound, a twenty-four year old psychiatry student from the local university, was looking around the pale gray corridors, her face emitting feelings of professionalism. Her bright blue eyes darted about the halls at each door, looking through the windows to see the tortured souls inside. Her pale skin, clear of all blemishes, would flush when any of the patients would see her.

Reaching the main room of the ward, she noticed two nurses absent-mindedly shuffling papers into different files. She stopped at the nurses' desk and held up her visitor card, which read, "_Kagome Higurashi, intern for Doctor Hiiragazawa. Student of Shikon University._" The blue eyed intern cleared her throat impatiently when neither of the white-clad nurses looked up. The shorter of the two, an overweight woman with gray hair and one eye hidden by an eye patch, looked up to read the card.

"Alright, alright," She said, sounding a bit winded. Reaching over to pick up a phone receiver, she dialed a few numbers on the phone and waited a bit. "Ah... yes, Dr. Hiiragazawa? ... Yes... Your intern... yes, Miss Higurashi... She just came in." As the nurse informed the doctor, Kagome looked around a bit at her surroundings. Everything looked rather... boring. She saw absolutely no patients just wandering the corridors, although every once in a while a nurse would walk out of a patient's room, filling out a piece of paper. "Miss?" Kagome turned around to see the nurse holding a key. "Doctor Hiiragazawa is waiting for you in his office. You will have to go through those doors," She pointed a pair of glass doors with a large sign that read, 'Do not enter without permission.' "Keep that key. Try not to lose it: our patients are rather... _sneaky_ with keys and things like that."

"Oh... alright," Kagome answered, taking the small silver key. Her eyes darted to the doors. "He's just in that direction?"

"Yes, it's just a narrow corridor through those doors," The nurse smiled jovially. "And you had better hurry up... It's nearly time for their dosages." As she said this, a bell rang through the halls, and the doors to all of the rooms opened. A wave of panic went through Kagome as she realized the patients would soon exit their rooms. Giving a nervous smile to the nurse, she quickly walked over to the glass doors, put the key in the doorknob, and walked into the scarlet-colored corridor. A few dozen diplomas were hung on the walls, each to a 'Dr. Hiiragazawa,' but other than that, the hall was completely vacant. Seeing a large mahogany door, she thought it would be Dr. Hiiragazawa's office; she opened the door to see a large, lavishly furnished room with a few comfortable chairs. In the middle of the room was a large desk upon which a tall, slender woman with dark hair was busy calling someone on a hands-free headset.

"Uh... No, he's busy then... maybe next week?... Great, he'll get you then... Goodbye now," The woman hung up the phone and looked up to see Kagome looking around the room. "Hello? Do you have an appointment with the doctor?" Kagome shook her head and held up her nametag. "Oh... you're the girl Kaede sent up... the doctor's busy right now. I'll let you in when he's finished with his patient." Kagome nodded and sat down in a vacant chair. A few chairs near her, she saw an adorable little girl kicking her legs as she hummed a little song. The little girl's long black locks were held on one side with a fuchsia rubber band, and at her heels lay a small toad in a box.

"Okay, Jaken... we're gonna play hopscotch when Daddy's done," The little girl exclaimed. The toad merely croaked a meager reply as the girl continued to hum. All of a sudden, she looked over at Kagome and grinned. "That's my toad... Daddy got it for me." She pointed to the toad. "His name's Jaken. I'm Rin. What's your name?" Rin got up and sat next to Kagome, leaving Jaken in his box on the floor.

"I'm Kagome... I'm a new intern," Kagome answered with a small smile. "What are you doing here?" Rin scrunched up her little nose as she told her.

"Daddy works here. He helps the sick people get betterཀ" She answered happily. '_Oh... so she must be Dr. Hiiragazawa's daughter..._' Kagome assumed as the girl continued to coo over Jaken's loud croak. All of a sudden, a chuckle was heard from the nurse's station. Kagome turned to see the girl at the desk laughing hysterically as she spoke quietly on the headset she wore. The girl stopped laughing to look up at Kagome.

"Dr. Hiiragazawa is ready for you now," She announced, pointing towards a black door. The door was plain: no markings covered it, nor were there any distinguishing marks. Still, Kagome thought, it was a bit overbearing... Shrugging her nervousness away, she marched up to the door and, opening it, walked inside to see a rather tall man at his desk typing furiously at his computer. Her eyes widened at the man's appearance. '_Is he an albino...?_' The man's hair was long and silver. It reflected the sunshine that poured from the large windows behind him, and his eyes... Kagome had to squint to be a hundred percent sure... yes, they were goldཀ

"Miss Higurashi, if you're done staring me down, you may sit down," Dr. Hiiragazawa's monotonous tone broke the silence. He looked at her from the desk, his gold eyes staring her down. Nervously Kagome sat down in a nearby chair and set the small briefcase she carried on the ground. "Now, before you came in, I was reading over your files." '_He can get a hold of them?' "_You have exemplary marks in all of your Sociology and Psychology classes... as well as your English and Composition classes... those are all fine classes for a Psychology major." Kagome took this as a compliment and smiled softly. "However," Kagome's smile faded. "I am concerned with the lack of job-shadow training or internships at a mental ward. That is why I offered to take you on as an intern."

"Oh..." Kagome was shocked. He didn't look her in the eyes, instead he handed her a paper. "What's this?" Picking it up, she read the words, '**_I hereby release any responsibilities of my safety from the Sengoku Memorial Hospital._**' "Huh?"

"It's a standard release form," Dr. Hiiragazawa answered. "It just merely states that if you are injured or worse by a patient, you have lost the right to sue." Oh. "If you don't sign it, you can't intern here, so..." He didn't elaborate more, but he handed her a pen and she quickly signed the document. "Thank you, Miss Higurashi..." Suddenly, the intercom on his desk lit up. Sighing, he pressed a little red button next to the speaker and barked into it, "Yes? What is it, Kagura?"

"Your ten o'clock is ready. He's in the waiting room right now," The girl answered curtly. Kagome could have sworn she heard a faint restraining sound in the background. "He doesn't appear to be cooperating..." A grunt followed.

"Send him in immediately," Dr. Hiiragazawa answered. Looking up to Kagome, he released the red button and gave her a brief nod, "You may go back in the main part of the ward... Talk with Kaede, the main nurse. She'll have some things for you to do until I am finished with this patient. Just... don't bother the patients..." Kagome nodded and rose from her seat.

"Thank you for this opportunity, Dr. Hiiragazawa," She told him, bowing curtly. The tall man nodded his goodbye and she left the room. She stepped past a brown-haired man with startling cerulean eyes bound into a wheelchair. He looked like he was heavily sedated. He gazed up at her with a glazed look in his eyes and a spark lit them up immediately. A grin graced his handsome face before the orderlies pushing the wheelchair pushed him in the office and shut the door. Kagome continued through the waiting room, through the scarlet corridor, and through the glass doors.

The corridors were now empty. The elderly woman at the nurse's station, whom Kagome assumed as Kaede, smiled at her and motioned for her to come up to the nurse's station. Kagome walked up and handed her identification card. Kaede took it quietly and started scribbling furiously on a piece of paper.

"Now dear, we're going to assign you to observation. You'll help out with the observation staff. All you do is walk to each door, take notes of whatever the patient is doing, and that's about it," Kaede told her. "It's really simple, but we would urge you to not have the patients notice you... after all, you know, the Hawthorne Effect and all." Kagome nodded, remembering the basic term from her Sociology class. "Here, just go through the west wing and take notes of all of the patients. Don't go in the rooms, just stand by the door." Kagome smiled and took a clipboard that Kaede was handing to her.

"Alright; you want me to just write down everything they do?" Kagome asked. Kaede nodded, "But isn't that invading their privacy?" Kaede chuckled.

"To some it would seem so, but in many of these rooms there lies a suicidal patient. We, the hospital staff, must be kept aware of all of their habits so as to avoid an accident." Oh. "Well, you'd best be started." Kaede ushered her to the west corridor and smiled as the new intern looked a bit spooked.

Kagome walked cautiously down the corridor, stopping every once in awhile to peer into a few rooms. In one, she noticed a lone girl who was cuddling a soft plush cat. She kept murmuring one word as her chocolate brown eyes looked around the room. Kagome's eyes swivelled to look at the nametag next to the door. It read '**_Sango T. Patient #135-P34_**.' Writing the patient's name and number, Kagome wrote exactly what she saw and walked on to the next room. There lay a little boy, probably no older than seven. His short red hair looked matted and he looked terrified. She noticed some burn marks on his arms and legs, which were bared. She looked at his name tag (**_Shippou K. Patient #342-K46_**) and wrote down what she saw.

She continued down the corridor until she reached the last one. In it sat a boy who shocked her to no end. He looked almost identical to Dr. Hiiragazawa, except that his face was sharper, less androgynous as the doctor's. A small bauble was dangling from his neck and he was just staring into space. His golden eyes looked around his room aimlessly until they reached the door. '_Oh no, he saw me..._' Instead of walking away quickly, his eyes held her in place. She tried to look over at his name tag, which oddly only said his first name and a number (**_Inuyasha Patient #563-H24_**). His dark eyebrows - she noticed they didn't match his long silver hair - furrowed as one word whispered from his lips... "Kikyou..."

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**Author's Note:** I _know_ I should be working on I.D. and A.A.C.T.P., but I haven't had the right inspiration for those two. This one is my favorite by far. I love the details. Oh, before anyone asks...

The Hawthorne Effect is an occurrence in which a subject in a study reacts in a different way than usual because the subject **knows** it is being studied.

Also, Dr. Hiiragazawa, in case you all didn't realize, is actually Sesshoumaru. He's a little OOC, but that will change in later chapters. Miroku will appear in the next chapter, as will a few other IY characters.

Oh, and the last thing, the titles of the chapters are lyrics from the Dashboard Confessional song, "Vindicated."

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Inuyasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale.


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